'MfpiLGMA6ETOC0UE

ELLA BOYCE KIRK

91

f&:

t/ui

"/give cie/e Booh founding of a- CoBtg^ inii/rtf.Colonyt

iLniais^mr
Gift of the family of

PROFESSOR WILLIAM

D.

WHITNEY
WftW-wA

TRANSFERRED TO YALE MEDICAL LIBRARY

"Day
I

by day, in every way,

better

am getting

and

better.

MY PILGRIMAGE
TO COUE
BY

ELLA BOYCE KIRK

American Library Service

publishers
500 Fifth

Avenue

New York

Copyright 1922

American Library Service

All translation rights reserved

TO MY NIECE

ELLA RUTH BOYCE

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK THROUGH HER ENCOURAGEMENT AND CONSTANT ATTENTION DURING MV VISIT TO NANCY, SHE

HAS MADE POSSIBLE THE WRITING OF THIS

TRUTH OF MY HEALING BY EMILE COUtf

CONTENTS
PAGE
Emile Cou of Nancy
1

Thumbnail Autobiography

7
13

Foreshadowings of My Infirmity My Efforts to Retain Health My Faith in Faith Cures

18

25

The Journey
First

to

Cou6

28
31

Meeting with Cou&

My Treatment and Cure by Cou6 ....

Cou6 and the Peasant Clinics
Cou6's Method of Autosuggestion
Coufi and the Subconscious

37
41

45
51

Stance with Cou6

56 62
.

Coud and Divine Healing

Cou6"s Predecessors in Autosuggestion
.

70
75

Other Applications

for Autosuggestion.

The Psychology of Autosuggestion The Force

Credo
of the Subconscious

....

80

89

92

(Letter from Emile

Coue

to the

Author)

O.

Its/****

**> *-*/

-2

u*4~&~7

*C***,,-r

4~c*rtm

~^Cu* "^i*** /um d*^-

jr

<*~t*.

**# l^iff""*

'

(Translation)

Nancy, August

5th,

1922.

Dear Madam:
Rest assured that I am very happy have been able to contribute to your very rapid cure. If you will alto

ways continue making your morning and evening suggestion, not only will you avoid the recurrence of your cramps, but you will also avoid the coming of those maladies that are
ever lurking for us. Not only am I not opposed to your speaking of my method to your
friends,
but,

on

the

contrary,

it

would give me great pleasure, since you would thus contribute to spreading
I

my

ideas.

beg of you, Madame, to accept

friendly greetings,

my most

(Signed)

Emile Cou.

"Our

actions spring not from our Will, but

from our Imagination."

Emile Cou

MY PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
CHAPTER
Day
I

Emile Coue of Nancy

by day, to the minds of more and more people, there is coming a familiarity with the names Coue and The two are becoming Nancy. linked in the popular ear as almost interchangeable, and to the popular mind they are synonymous with all that is good and beneficent in human life. To-day, in Nancy, France, whether seeking relief from physical disability, or whether interested in studying the problems of the human mind; whether attracted by the novel and surprising, or whether genuinely in sympathy with what is being done by the little French apothecary, one may find under the teaching of Monsieur Coue power and knowledge that will interest, surprise and heal.
[i]

MY PILGRIMAGE
For

TO COUE
American

some

time,

the

newspapers and magazines have been

lic

instrumental in familiarizing the pubwith Monsieur Coue and his work

through articles and reviews of his one small published work in English, "Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion," as well as of numerous books dealing with him and his almost miraculous cures through the power of the mind. So interesting and convincing are the accounts given, so sincere and unassuming, that to one suffering from any ail-

ment of the
forth to see

flesh the idea of sailing

what there

is

to be seen

comes most naturally. When the means are at hand no time is lost in
carrying out the idea, especially

when

harassed by torturing physical pain that saps one of the very

is

one

desire to live.

Through the medium of the newspapers the name Coue came to be as familiar as that of a household classic.

Whenever anyone complained

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

of a physical ailment the first question asked was surely: "Why, haven't you heard of Coue? Don't you know of his wonderful method of healing

through autosuggestion?
try
it.

You must

It will surely help you."

part of it was whenever Coue's name was mentioned or his treatment discussed it was always with the utmost faith and respect. The people who spoke of it were sure of what they said, and
that

The remarkable

could substantiate their statements with facts. There was never any of that reluctance to bare details, never any of that reticence to come to the
point, that accompanies charlatanism
in

general.

Everyone

who

ever

spoke of Coue and his work did it with the utmost freedom, gave minute information and did not hesitate to lend his personal assistance in effecting a cure by revealing the way autosuggestion was practiced. There always existed that enthusiasm and Coue's that comes with success

[3]

MY PILGRIMAGE
method, as
I

TO COUE
in af-

discovered later,

fections that did not entail organic

malformations or broken bones, was successful in ninety cases out of one hundred. There is always something in the attitude of the person upon whom
a theory
is

tried that either reflects

favorably or detracts from its validity. In all cases where the Coue

method was
one
of

tried,

the attitude

satisfaction

was and gratitude.

The

individual radiated a desire to spread the idea and inform the world of the wonders that could be accomplished by a method so simple that
it might at first seem ridiculous. There was ever something about him

in

akin to the fervor of the Christians ancient Rome who had seen the

light

of those

and were eager to open the eyes who were still in the dark.

There was always in him a beautiful faith that communicated itself to

others.

Surely

all

this

could not be

in-

[4]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

spired by anything that was not basiTruth ever cally good and true!
shines by
its

own
is

light.

All else

is

a futile spark that dazzles for a

mo-

ment and then

has in
in its
it

extinguished.

The

truth of Coue's marvelous

method

the very essence of sunlight

goodness and beneficence. If were as widely diffused how much happier the world would be When I heard of Coue for the first time it was in a dark period of trial and stress, a period during which I
only
it

was

suffering

excruciating

physical

pain and the no less torturing pain of scepticism and hopelessness. I had tried every available method of cure to rid myself of my physical disability, but strive as I might, I could accomplish nothing. I had reached the stage when I was about to resign myself to the worst, when the names

Coue and Nancy came to me like two good geniuses leading me to health and happiness. I was not long in
availing myself of the promises they
[5]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

held out to me, and now, thanks to them, I am able to publish my thankfulness

and gratitude to the world

in-

stead of dragging

my

life

away

in

embittered invalidism in the narrow confines of a basket-chair. This personal experience of my

trip to

Monsieur Coue

at

Nancy

is

written for the benefit, rather, moral support, of all those who are suffering from the ills to which flesh is
heir,

faith,

and who, like myself, have lost and possibly hope. It is also

an expression of gratitude for the wonderful effects that resulted from my trip to Nancy, and a humble tribute to the marvelous work of Monsieur Coue. I cite nothing that

which

not personally observe, or in I did not play a small part. So, my purpose stated, I shall launch my labor of love, begging of the reader the same tolerance St. Augustine asked for, that he judge the spirit and not the word.
I did

[6]

CHAPTER

II

A Thumbnail Autobiography
There were two normal and
capable ailments to which
I

ines-

had long

been a conscientious autosuggestionist before going to Coue; namely, my age and my weight. Like most women, I knew how to ignore both of them so long as I felt young enough to care about life and activity and was not too stout to climb the
stairs

to the entrance

of

my

hotel

with average ease. If I could still enter a taxicab comfortably or occupy the allotted space in a theatre, I was content to press on from day to day with undaunted spirits. "Cast your burdens on the Lord" had always been my guiding precept when dealing with problems that touched the sensibilities. I was content to allow my worries to dissipate in due time with the help of moral
[7]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO CQUE
However, with respect to
troubles
fleshly

fortitude.

merely
take

of wrinkles and excess tissue, I never cared to

beyond local jurisdicseemed preferable to pay the masseuse and the hopefully named "Beauty Specialist" to set to rights the attrition of time and age. It was wiser to let the tailor wage the slowly losing battle between "slenderizing lines" and the broadening
case
tion.

my

It

influences of nature if he chose.

was prepared
take

to

pay
It

my
is

price

and

my

discounts.

a sane phi-

losophy to keep the mind off the external signs of accumulative years and to occupy it instead with broad

human

interests.

in my life I have observed an attitude of optimism and selfreliance. Seldom have I publicly or among my friends sought sympathy or support for any trial that I have ever undergone, and they have not been few. However, so long as I was able to avoid foolish fretting in

Always

[8]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

matters of health, so long as I could hold my own with moderate success with age and infirmity, I was happy in the fact of my continued mental Perhaps a little like an activity. the binding scuffed and old book, faded, the pages yellow, the print a

little

antique,

felt,

nevertheless,

that

my

contents were imperishable

and unchanged. Indeed, were I to look disinterestedly upon my case, my years were I could in some ways an advantage. with alone or go wherever I chose, any companion, without fear and without scandal. My mature dignity was a sufficient guarantee of disinterI could be as curious as chose about any person or event without being committed or compromised. I could even evince interest for Freud and psychoanalysis without seeming to exhibit a complex.

estedness.
I

Truly,

it is

an

ill

wind that bloweth

Even my weight, had impersonally, everything judging

nobody any good.
[9]

MY PILGRIMAGE
its

TO COUE

compensations. Traffic policemen, taxi drivers, bell boys and shopkeepers paid me the deference that
plain people always render to
size.
I

mere

cannot say that I did not have pangs of suffering from my condition, but the real sorrows and embarrassments of overweight I kept
closely concealed in

my own

heart.

The apparent burdens could be conveniently utilized to avoid anything

I desired to shirk.

Withal,
fying
duties.
life,

I led

an active and
of
little

satis-

full

tasks

and

days and evenings were filled to the last minute with calls and shopping, lectures, theatres and concerts. I combined harmoniously the
useful and the pleasant, thus arriving
at a satisfying balance.

My

No

middle-

aged buyer, of the proverbial kind, lived any more actively while in New

York than own way.

did habitually in
hotel
all
[io]

my
a

My

rooms were

rendezvous for

my

out-of-town

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUB
What
is

friends.

more,

kept con-

tinually the pace they

strike only

were able to

I had to rush new activities to forget the fact that I was bored with the life I was leading, as compared to my activities

on occasion. Sometimes, it is true,

into

in

my

earlier youth.

Often

felt

keenly point and continuity.

that
trasted

my movements lacked

When

con-

my

life as a

mere consumer

long since out of touch with the labor of producing when I thought of myself in retrospect, first, as the first woman school superintendent in America, then, as an active social

factor in the life of

when

allowed

my home city, my mind to look back

I

upon what had been, feel idle and unhappy.

If

did indeed you can

fancy yourself remaining at a public ball after your own party and friends have gone home, you will appreciate the bitterness of loneliness and bore-

dom

that

came to me.

Time may
it

soften the grief of impotence, but

MY PILGRIMAGE
also lengthens
past.

TO COUE

the

shadows of the

As time goes on, one meets, indeed, travelling companions on the way, but they, like oneself, are busy
with
time-killing

occupations

while

loitering on the wayside

homes they have left mate Destination. In moments of relaxation such considerations came to me strongly. Often while I was preoccupied with my petty infirmities I would ask myself,

between the and the Ulti-

"Why

attempt to prolong and

beguile an interlude between life

and

not said and meant that that person was fortunate it whose life came suddenly to an end Oh, how I should have at fifty? welcomed at those moments a sumWith what mons to go elsewhere pleasurable excitement and importance I would have greeted the doc-

death?"

Had

tor's

month

announcement that I had in which to wind up

[12]

just

my

affairs!

CHAPTER III FORESHADOWINGS OF My INFIRMITY

During
saw
that period I seldom really
a doctor, but I never greeted one

without the special interest that one takes in a person with whom one is shortly to have important business. In spite of the fact that to all appearances I was cheerful and active most of the time, I possessed a kind
of dreary, fussy activity, a hectic
tensity that offered
in-

me

little

solace.

I knew, awaited me, dramatic announcement some day that I must prepare myself for a long journey. Probably it would be heralded by toxicuraemia. Probably the heart would give way; for how could it be as

A genuine thrill,
the

doctor's

healthy as

it

seemed?

But alas, even for the high ambiThe doctor's surprise tions of age! for me was genuine, but it was not
[13]

MY
tragic.

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
He
told

heroic and thrilling.

shortly going to

was merely I was be unable to walk

It

me

that

moment I felt all the illusion of Hedda Gabler when hears that the man whom she
At
that

dis-

she
ex-

pected to do things beautifully, with

vine-leaves in his hair, has shot himself vulgarly in the

bowels

From what

the doctor said, a brief

period of gradually restricted activity lay before me, and then an indeterminate sentence of invalidism, while, chained to a bed, or helped about from chair to chair, I patiently waited until my pain was appeased! What a ghastly discounting of the hope of death! What a disgusting termination of an active life to remain a useless burden, an invalid, when one had expected to leave dramatically, a useful and an interesting individual to the very last minute However, everything considered, the doctor's verdict should not have surprised me. For approximately

[14]

MY
ally

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
had
suffered occasion-

fifteen years I

with both limbs from a malady that seemed to be due to gradual stiffening of the muscles. It was sometimes attended by cramps above the knees. Any difficulty in walking that I experienced in this way, however, was always attributed not only by my doctor, but even by myself, to the fact that I was so heavy. The doctor invariably prescribed rest and diet, though frankly, it seemed to me
that
it

to do, to set about

sacrifices to

was the more judicious thing making all possible

reduce my weight. In spite of my resolutions, visiting friends and hotel menu cards conspired to make me defer all resolve to reduce. I have lived for years on a prescription of milk and vichy, and an actual diet of broiled squab

Many a morning I cloche. have gone downstairs to a breakfast that began with a cup of hot water and ended with sausage and wheat
sous
cakes.
[is]

MY
One

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

day, most unexpectedly, the trouble I had experienced with my knees showed new developments that

seemed grave enough

to

demand

seri-

ous attention. Pains so intense as to cause me to lose all consciousness, and swellings so gross as to interfere with my walking challenged notice.

The One
tism.

doctors

came and diagnosed.

said dropsy; another, rheuma-

my

All decreed that probably, at time of life, it was incurable. With rest and diet I could perhaps

bring about reduction of the swelling, but it was nevertheless probably futile to expect that I should again

walk with the old freedom. Just what the doctors promised and what they failed to maintain, just what the extent of my suffering was from that time on for the last two
years

not interesting or imporThe significance of the trouble for me, indeed, was not physical, but spiritual. I was concerned, not with what it meant in
it

is

tant to detail.

[16]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO CPUS

terms of bodily suffering, but in terms of isolation. It seemed only a matter of months till I would be cut off entirely not only from my pleasurable employments, but even from my friends; it looked like a question of long years until the bleakness of inactivity would be terminated.

whole tenor of life suddenly developed a new interest and value. Was it possible that I had ever been bored? Could I actually have desired to die while I
this juncture
still

From

my

had the opera, the first nights, and the round of pleasures that was always planned for me whenever I

revisited
really I

my home city? Was it who had pretended to feel

from
out-

that such frequent visits

of-town friends were an imposition and an affliction? It was with a pang that I saw myself cut off from these very friends, made dearer to me by
the

impending

possibility

of losing

them.

[17]

CHAPTER

IV

My

Efforts to Retain Health

Nevertheless,
laxation.

I took the doctors' advice and arranged for diet and re-

There was only one way of getting a complete change, namely,

by withdrawing from the hectic life of New York, away from hotels, away from amusements, away from the friends I loved so well and who

had come
me.

to

mean

so very

much

to

As soon as I came to my decision, packed up and departed for the quiet, rural section of Maine where I was born, and where I had not lived
I

for

lo,

these

many

years.

Needless to say,
tives

my

country rela-

were astonished to see me, accustomed as they were to associating me with bright lights and intense living. Therefore it was with a certain
degree
of
diffidence
[18]

that

they

re-

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi

ceived the announcement of my intention to live a rigorously simple life

with them for six months, if need be. As it was, I remained with them from May until December, making every effort to regain by abstemiousness and quiet the privilege of again playing a part in the activities of

New

York.

The
contact

effort It

was not wholly without

brought

reward.

me

again into

girlhood friends and I lived long-neglected memories. again the quiet, peaceful hours of my

with

youth with
tions.

all their

It

renewed

soothing associamy acquaintance

with the peaceful, deep-thinking, patient people of the country, whose greatest concern was nature and the bounties of health and vigor that she held forth to them. On the whole,
it

made

little less terrible

the pros-

days where I had begun them. I was resigned to being an invalid waiting out my term in the
pect of ending

my

silence of the

Maine
[19]

countryside.

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
spiritual support.

So much for the

ure, for physically I

The experiment was

but worse.

otherwise a

fail-

grew not

better,

My

resignation slowly
desire to live, to

share of contook possession of me. I decided at last, while there was still some breath left in me, still some power of locomotion, to devote
structive

Again the be healthy, to have

waned.
work,

my

all

my

forces to a

more

active

at-

tempt to recover the use of my limbs. Following this decision, I returned to New York to put myself into the hands of physicians, masseurs, chiropractors, osteopaths, of any one or anything that held out the least hope

of a cure. I clutched desperately at every straw. Now, with my renewed interest to get well, life no longer

The activities that once threatened to pall on me now seemed passionately worth while. Does this account, dear reader,
seemed a bore.
lose interest for

me

to get on to the

you? Do you urge end of my story?

[20]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

Perhaps you echo the aspiration of

who replied to the query about his invalid wife, "Oh, yes, she's still sick. I wish she'd get well or do something!"
the deacon
It
is

person

ever so. The healthy, active can never appreciate the

who

agony of the search for health of one fears permanent disability, or

life

contemplates a continued
validism.

of

in-

Before relating
of

my

infirmity, I believe

worth while

to

was cured would be impress upon the

I
it

how

reader that the physical pain itself played the least part in my affliction.

was the loneliness that was unbearable. It was the fear of being useless It was the that chilled the heart. sense of age and infirmity, creeping
It

over a sunny land, that my life of It would be its capacity for joy. poor praise indeed of any cure if it
like a glacier

desolated and defrauded

represented a mere surcease of pain,

[21]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
itself

when despair

had been the

real

malady. I wish with all my heart that I could convey for the benefit of those afflicted with invalidism the lesson I learned through my trouble. Often the cross that an afflicted person
bears
is

the attitude of his friends

and

relatives,

who

believe that the

invalid suffers only

from physical

ail-

ments, and that the essential thing to be done is to relieve him of pain and make him as comfortable as necessary.

Often, to
is

make

this possible,

the invalid

isolated

from bright

occucompany, utterly pation, and is thus made wretched at the thought that he is a burden upon those who wait on him and outdo themselves conspicuously in their kindnesses. True, it is very

deprived of useful

kind to show consideration for a per-

But illness most often mental. Indeed, it ought to be borne in mind by those who are well that no invalidism is
son's physical well-being.
is

[22]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

unbearable if it is cheered by employment, interesting company, and a chance to render service. The chief duty of those who nurse the sick is to restore their mental health. This lesson was brought home to me forcefully during the two years I fought to regain my world. My friends did their utmost to make me absolutely comfortable. I had a special chair built for me. I reclined

upon cushions. I slept upon hotwater bags. Every contrivance for the ease of tortured flesh was procured for me. I ate my meals in my room. I lived upon the well-intentioned wishes of attendants. Yet I had but one object in life, to fight

off loneliness.

Looking back upon my decision to go to M. Coue, it seems to me as if it came as a last resort, when despair had all but set in. It is possible that I should have nourished some further hope of the remedies that were being tried before becoming discouraged
[23]

MY
the

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi
now
it

altogether, but

seems as
like

if

thought of Coue came

rate,

an

eleventh-hour reprieve.

At any

when

sent for

my

with me; I'm going to Nancy to be treated by M. Coue," she did not hesitate or debate
niece, saying:

"Come

the merits of the idea for a

moment.

She knew that everything I could think of or do had been tried. The
fact alone that I

had hope enough

in

in

the enterprise to consent to face the

hardships of a trip to France

condition

my

was

in itself a justification

for the journey.

Accordingly, we set sail on the 8th of July. Established in a special deck chair that had been built expressly
unless
to

tortured body,
it

accommodate my poor, I vowed not to leave was washed out to sea by

a tidal

wave.

[24]

CHAPTER V

My
The

Faith in Faith Cures

existing appreciation on my part that some portion of my trouble was mental is clear from the fact that among other remedies I had already
tried

several

varieties

of

religious
I

faith cures.

At

this

moment

have

nothing to urge against them. In the light of my subsequent lessons from M. Coue, I have more respect for them now than before I went to him, for he convinced me that they are of value for many people. His explanation that they are sometimes efficacious because they often cause the patient to give himself curative autosuggestions justifies them for those who can be convinced by their affirmations. However, they failed
to help me, because I
in

had no

faith

them. Indeed, they antagonized When a new-thought lady8 me.

[25]

MY
call,

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
me
five
sit

charging

would

in

or ten dollars a my room uncon-

sciously attending to minor details of her personal comfort and tell me that
I

had no

pain, I

was

irritated,

not

cured.

When

she offered to give

me

absent treatments at the same rate, I found myself making mental calculations as to how many patients could be absent-treated at one and the same

time,

wondering whether
station,

radio-

broadcasting

installed

by

such a healer, would not increase the profits of the business. I caught myself smiling

inwardly at her naivete

and thought of the simple-minded Eastern dervish who devised an economical way of sending numerous prayers to God daily through the medium of a little hand-mill in which he placed sacred scrolls rolled in the form of pills. Instead of praying in

good old dervish fashion he merely turned the crank, and the work was
done.
[26]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO CPUS
my my

No, her method did not convince

I had taught school in me. younger days, with children as

patients,

so

to

speak.

had not
impress
ab-

found
sent

it

possible

ever

to

them with anything by means of

treatments.

My

experience,

had given me a bias in favour of the personal touch. The result was that though I clutched at M. Coue's treatment
therefore,

through autosuggestion as a
sort, I

last rein

was

little

diffident,

the

bottom of my heart, as to what he I had seen really could do for me. enough of the faith-cure methods in America to make me somewhat skeptical.

It

was

in this state

of

mind

that I

went

to France.

[27]

CHAPTER
Across
three

VI

The Journey to Coue

thousand
miles

of

ocean, and across almost the whole

of France, to the city of

went,

Nancy we

my

niece

and

I,

with the very

possibly,

definitely compelling idea that there

I

would

find healing,

but

certainly one of the

most

interesting

personalities

in

the world,

judging

from
Coue.

all I

had read and heard of M. from Paris

to

The
ciations

ride

Nancy

is

along the

Marne

valley, full of asso-

of the

World War.

The

splendid vitality of the French people

is

very much

in evidence in the tre-

mendous amount of rebuilding that

has already been accomplished
ruined villages.
in the

Indeed, the wonder

and admiration that we could not

help but feel for the French nation,
[28]

MY

PILG RIMAGE TO COUE

almost caused us to forget the main scope of our visit to Nancy. At last we reached the city. The first thing that interested us was its
beautiful
iron

work.

The

public

squares, the buildings and the ancient

gates exerted a fascination over us, for they were so different from what

we were accustomed
was
land,
Stanislaus, the

to seeing.

It

interesting to find a statue to

deposed king of Po-

and

to learn that as the father-

in-law of Louis of France he had been given the Duchy of Lorraine, of which Nancy was the principal city, when his own country was lost to him. It was gratifying to see how he had beautified that city. What caused us to marvel most of all was to find, glorified as later heroes of the town, the architect Here and the ironsmith Lamour, whose buildings,

XV

gates and balconies are the greatest

beauties of the city to-day.

Our

interest,

individual,

however, was in an and not in civic beauty.

[29]

MY
We
tions

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

wished to see Coue. Few queswere necessary to locate him. His name seemed to be known by everyone in Nancy.

[30]

CHAPTER
First

VII

Meeting With Coue

Bright and early, the following we set out, along the Rue Jeanne D'Arc to the home of M. Coue. There we found an attractive house
day,
in the French style surrounded by a garden with a locked gate. At our ring the maid appeared and told us we had come too early. It was then about 8.30. Just then Madame Coue happened to pass by, coming from her beautiful and much-loved garden. When she heard that we were the Americans who had come all the way from New York just to consult M. Coue she seemed to agree with us that we were worthy some special attention. We were accordingly ushered into M. Coue's study. Not

until

much

later did

we

learn
it

how

favoured we had been, for

the practice of

was not

M. Coue
[31]

to see people

MY
time
little

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
He
gives so

privately.
to

much

of his

the public clinics

that the

which remains to him must be preserved for writing and the de-

mands of his individual life. It had seemed to us surely an

unprecedented
a trip for the

thing

that

anyone

should, like us, have taken so long

purpose of seeing M. Coue. We were to learn later that not only were we not the first Amerhis

whose interest in M. Coue and work had led them to Nancy, but that his fame had even reached South
icans
tients

Africa, so that at that very time pa-

from that

distant place

were

there to consult him.

However, our concern for the moment was with the private interview, which presently we had with M. Coue. It was naturally of great interest to us to

gauge the personality

his

man so famous that was known the world over.

of a

name
study

We

had not been long

entered.
[32]

in his

when M. Coue

How shall I

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUB

depict him in words? Sixty-seven years young, short in stature, with a remarkably keen eye and a twinkling
smile, he appears at first glance to be bent with age, but one flash of his

merry smile
with,

instantly sets that im-

pression to rest.

One

feels, to

begin
next,

how unassuming
sincere;

he

is;

how
most

and

lastly,

how

assured.

"You

will be better,"

seems to be his

characteristic remark.

When
ill-health.

he asked
I

I outlined to

me what ailed me, him my Via Crucis of told him how I had
with
osteopaths,

taken

treatments

allopaths,

chiropractors,

even menI
relief,

tioning the ill-fated faith cures.

related of

how

all

promised

but failed to give any. I remember telling him of how one had advised me, when I suffered most keenly with my limbs, to walk with my mind,

and not with

as

my

legs, for

he as well
I

many

others maintained that

at all.

had
in

no trouble with them

M. Coue

differed
[33]

from them

MY
my

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

that he recognized that I really did have a physical basis for the pain in

was of the opinion most of it was in my belief. Thereupon I said to him

limbs, but he

that

should this exist in my legs simply a belief in my mind? Why should not my arms be also affected?"
if it is

"Why

He

replied
a

"Undoubtedly you had

weakness

of the muscles of the legs and your belief strengthened it until it became an actual fact to you, as a source of great pain."

When
could cure

asked him whether he me he said:

"I shall cure you,

Mrs. Kirk.

do not think you

will

have a recurin

rence of the cramps."

When
he said:

asked him, later

the

interview, about his

method of

cure,

"Be sure, Mrs. Kirk, that I do not perform these cures that are attributed to me. Patients cure themselves
[34]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

every time. I just fertilize the mental soil, then make a few suggestions.
If, then,

the patient acts on these he

it is

will get well, if

within the limits

cases

of possibility.
that

There are many

come to me that cannot be cured. Broken tissues, loss of limbs, some cases of deafness, some cases of eye
diseases are incurable."

He

explained later that

is

if

the dis-

ease of the eye

a
if

muscular one, he
there are liquid

can cure

it,

but

complications, he cannot.

At

this

discussing

moment, while we were what could and what could

not be cured, a lady entered with a

large
suitcase.

The maid was

ex-

postulating with her and trying as best she could to prevent her from

going further. . "M. Coue," cried the woman, pleading, "your portrait that I am
painting
is

nearly finished."

laughed boyishly, in the peculiar to him, and said that the lady surely must be adtwinkling

M. Coue

way

[35]

MY PILGRIMAGE
mitted
trait.
if

TO COUE
his por-

she

was painting

We

then withdrew, while he called

to
sit in

after us

"Be sure
So ended

the garden until

the patients come."

my

first

interview with

M.

Coue.

[36]

CHAPTER

VIII

Mv My
less,

Treatment and Cure by Coue

experience
in
is

personal

being
so sim-

treated by Monsieur

Coue

ple as to be unbelievable; nevertheit has resulted in so definite a change, has proven so decided a cure

as to

seem

a miracle

a term that
to.

M. Coue

greatly objects
:

My

treatment was as follows He asked me at first to hold out my arms with my hands firmly clasped together and to repeat many times "I cannot open my hands." At first I felt sure that I could unclasp them if I tried, showing that the belief "I cannot" was not yet fully established in my unconrepeated this toscious mind. gether many times, yet it was not wholly satisfactory because I really However, did not have the belief. he kindly said to me, "You do very

We

[371

MY
if

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi
sure
that

first time and I feel you do exactly as I ask you to, you will be cured." Later in the morning, when I with other patients, he asked to try this again. This time I

well for the

was

me
had

a much more confident feeling that I was getting the idea of the belief "I

cannot"

that

he

desired

should

have, and again he

made

the sugges-

tion, "You will soon be well. All pain will cease." After the third trial I was conscious that the thoughts, "I cannot" and "I can," had complete mastery of my hands. Then my kind teacher said, "Do now

as I tell you and you will soon be

well; there will be no recurrence of the pain, no contraction of the muscles,

no lack of nerve control."

I

Even then
sible;
it

did not believe

it

pos-

all

seemed so simple

as to be

only a passing fancy. I repeated twenty times every morning and evening, as he asked me to do, "Day by day, in every way, I am getting
[38]

MY
ing,

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi
sometimes addI

better and better,"

"and

am

sure there will be no

recurrence of the pain."

said there

M. Coue
to

was no objection
necessary.

this specific suggestion,

though

making it was

not at

all

In less than a

week I found that I could move about more easily and could do more things without conscious effort than I had been able to do for years. It was then that the real cure was effected.
could now sit for a long time without changing position. I could walk
I

much more

easily

and after three

months, during which time I have surely been getting better and better each day, there has been no recurrence of the pain and I walk as well

and
ago.

as easily as I did

twenty years

The method
this result

to

tell.

that brought about seems almost too simple have stated the treatment

in its entirety exactly as I

received

it.

How
ing!

simple

it

all

sounds

in the tell-

You go

to

Monsieur Coue with

[39]

MY
an
left
it

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
to take

ailment,

seem
it

you return home, you up life when and as you

seventeen years ago. And yet, Precisely what not exactly so. you suffered from was not so much
is

a disease

as

moral disaster; the

cure has given you

more than the

ab-

sence of pain.

Something positive

been gained what M. Coue "Self-Mastery." You are led to see that life has more spiritual value than you had given heed to.
has
calls

It

is this intangible gain that I am anxious to pass on to others. And it is with the hope that I can help create a better understanding of M. Coue's work gained by my own personal contact with him that I desire

to

make

these
is

observations

of his

system, which
results
science.

by and guaranteed by the logic of

certainly justified

[4o2

CHAPTER

IX

COUE AND THE PEASANT CLINICS

It seems that the day
I

saw M.

Coue
clinics

for the

first

for peasants. are

We

time was reserved discovered that

held

and that regular

hours are observed as follows: On two days a week, there are held what

known as the Peasants' Clinics; other afternoons, except Sunday, clinics are held in his home or in his
are
all

garden, the weather permitting, for other people. The Peasants' Clinics are held all day long, in a little house in the garden, and so many people flock to them that four meetings are held,

two

in the

morning and two

in the

afternoon. Sometimes these are doubled in number,

takes another.

when M. Coue

takes

one group while one of his followers

The garden

is

most
[41]

attractive

and

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
is

the atmosphere

calm, serene and

hopeful.

begin to arrive long before the hour set, and place themselves in groups about the rooms of the little house in the garden,
is used for the needs but a glance to brought them hither; with pain, the tortured

The people

which

peasants.
see

It

tal

distress,

the

what has faces drawn look of mentwisted and bent

frames supported by cane or crutch, all bear silent testimony to the need and the hope of relief. Soon M.

Coue

arrives.

cheerful, even happy.

His manner is brisk, His invariable

give

practice

is

to

treatment

in

Since he practices for his joy in the good he can accomplish

groups.
(for

it is

an actual fact that he acis

cepts no fees), he

free to dictate

the terms under which he will treat people. The only terms he makes

are that the patients shall

public clinics.
sible as the air
is

come

to

So here he

is,

as acces-

we

breathe.

No

one
is

denied, and yet, in a sense, he

[42]

MY PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
most
one's

no matter what means or position, to see M. Coue, he must come to the group
inaccessible, for

meetings.

There seems to be a double purpose underlying his regulation. First, it minimizes the possibilities of the patient's discussion of his own symptoms. To dwell upon symptoms is to make a suggestion, which is highly
undesirable.
acteristic
it is

We
in

all

know how

char-

to rehearse

symptoms,

particularly
invalids.
it

of chronic However, in a large group

the case

becomes practically impossible, and is a first step toward eliminating an evil suggestion and substituting a
that
one.
attitude,

good
whole

Next, M. Coue, in his reduces the impor-

tance of illness.

He

is

cheerful.

He

even makes little jokes as he makes The second a round of the room. purpose in group meetings seems to be to strengthen the force of every

good suggestion made.

[43]

As M. Coue

speaks to each one, and from practi-

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi

come reports of improvement, this naturally acts upon the others to instil hope and
cally all the old patients

confidence.

a few
as
in

to

So he goes about, having words with each. If he finds, he almost always does, someone acute pain, he stops a few moments dispel it, by the following method:
patient
is

The
much
perhaps

as possible

asked to relax as and to sit quietly,

the

touching
is

part

of

the

body that

the

seat of the pain.

Then he
rapidly,

is

told to say over and over,

"C'est passe."

M. Coue

demonstrates how, by saying the words with the patient, and so rapidly does he speak that it sounds like a small buzz saw. You may doubt the possibility of what I say, but it remains true that, over and over, we saw this method
effective in action.

[44]

CHAPTER X
Coue's

Method of Autosuggestion
as
is

M. Coue,

tains that the imagination

well known, mainis stronger

than the will. His whole science is based upon this theory, and judging from his experiments it is a very workable theory indeed. To prove his point M. Coue is fond of trying a little experiment with several people in succession to demonstrate how powerful imagination really is. A person is asked to clasp his hands, pressing them together more and more tightly, until they fairly tremble. At the same time he is asked to say to himself, over and over, "I can't open them. I can't open them." Then, still holding this thought as firmly as possible, he is asked to try to open them. Of course, as long as he thinks he cannot, it is impossible
[45]

MY PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
for

him

to

do

so.

This experiment

cannot fail, for if the hands are unclasped it is because the patient decided he could do it. The effect upon the onlooker is almost uncanny. It looks like magic,
but it is easily apparent that it is only a simple demonstration of the power of the mental attitude. Perhaps the reader may have undergone a similar experience, or seen someone else struggle hard to do something, and yet powerless to effect it. As an instance

we may

take the effort needed

to dive into the water for the first

time
the

from a spring-board.
individual

There
honestly
to.

stands;

he

wants to dive; he is ashamed not Surely nothing could be simpler.

It

looks a more difficult feat to stand, poised and trembling at the edge of
the board, than to

make

the leap;

deep within him, holds him as though paralysed. A similar experience may be observed when one tries to cross a busy street.
fear,
[46]

and yet some

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

Unable

to move hand or foot, one stands rooted with terror, exposing

oneself to the very dangers one fears.

It
is

this

lessness

same feeling of powerthat M. Coue evokes in one

Beis

consciously in this experiment.

to

cause of the feeling of the inability

do

a certain thing, one actually

it.

This experiment seems to me another proof of the deep wisdom of M. Coue, for in this way he causes the patient to realize the strength of his own thought, and the responsibility he has toward its proper direction. The idea is next presented upon which the whole method of conscious autosuggestion is based. Before anyone can understand what it is, he must first of all realize the nature of his own mind, namely, that he has two selves. We have been prone to
think that the conscious
self,

unable to do

the one
It
is

we know

best,

is

the true self.

only a very recent development in psychology that is bringing to the

[47]

MY
fore

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
the
other,
really

deeper

and

truer self, the Unconscious or Sub-

conscious self.
discoveries,

Even in the recent much emphasis has been

evil, to

placed, however, on the Subconscious

as

something
it is

controlled.

M.
all,

be subdued and Coue's attitude toconsider

ward

quite different.
let us

First of

the unconscious does for us.

what There

are many bodily and mental activities which we can consciously direct and alter; but there are many more, of

greater importance, that

control

we cannot through the mind. These are more important because they are the fundamental life activities without which life could not continue.
Breathing, the beating of the heart,
the processes of digestion and

many

more,

We

come under that category. have always been more or less

all

aware of the force of the subconscious. Literature abounds with recognition of a power within oneself, and yet often alien to one's real purUS]

MY
poses.

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
Indeed,

if one set out with mind, one could not read a book, without finding illustrations. To quote from Miss Cather's new book, One of Ours: "The feeling of purpose, of fateful purpose, was strong in his breast." McFee, in his new novel Command, says: "For he had of late discovered that a man can, in some curious subconscious way, keep his head in a swoon. Like a person who is under an anaesthetic, who is aware of his own pulsing, swaying descent into a hurried yet timeless oblivion, whose brain keeps an amused record of the absurd efforts of alien intelligences to communicate with him as he drops past the spinning worlds into darkness, and who is aware, too,

this idea in

of his own entire helplessness, a man can with advantage sometimes let himself be fooled."

Mark Twain
says:

in his

Autobiography

"There are some books that refuse

[49]

MY
to

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi

They stand their be written. ground, year after year, and will not be persuaded. It is not because the book is not there and worth being written it is only because the right form of the story does not present

itself."

It has always been recognised that under emotional stress we often seem to be quite other beings than we like to think we are, or, indeed, than we try to be. It is common to hear it said, "He was beside himself with rage or fear." It has remained for

M. Coue to discover the real nature of the unconscious, and to present it not as an evil genius, rising from the depths from time to time under emotional impulsion to defeat our most earnest purposes; but that it is a deep
and vital force, capable of being educated and directed, provided that the
laws under which
served.
it

Under

it works are obthose circumstances

may become a very fruitful source of power and peace.

[50]

CHAPTER
M. Coue's method
subconscious.
is

XI

C0UE AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS

to study the
is

His aim
operates.

to discover

when

it

most
it

clearly manifests itself,

It
is

and how

well

known
is
it is

most

during sleep that it a matter of fact, never dormant, and when sleep
that
it is

active.

As

lulls

the conscious
itself.

mind
is

it is

free to

manifest

of course impossible for the conscious mind to get into touch with the unconscious during sleep, but there can be found certain moments during waking periods that correspond to the character
It find that in periods of complete relaxation. When day dreams come, there exists such a

of sleep.

We

condition.

M.
ately

Coue,

therefore,

advocates

that upon retiring, and also immedi-

upon waking, while the mind

[51]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
as relaxed as possible,

and body are

everyone should make to himself the general suggestion of well-being that is coming to be a household expression: "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better." This is to be said twenty times. M. Coue also suggests the use of a string with twenty knots tied to it, for keeping
the record, and the uttering of the

monotonous a tone In other words, what known in psychology as voluntary active attention should be reduced a minimum; the conscious self is be lulled to as quiescent a state
words
in

as

as
is

possible.

or
to to as

possible, short of actual sleep.

M.
we

Coue

explains that any idea which

in

can succeed

having the subconscious accept will be realized in action, provided, however, that it is within the realms of the possible; for he realizes that the human body has
limitations.

When

dealing with his patients

M.

Coue assures them that they

[52]

will be

MY
better.

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi
He
mentions various cases

present, speaking rather generally of

particular symptoms, and saying that

they will pass.

different

It will

be noted that

in this particular his

method is quite from some others which

and
suffering.

heal also by suggestion, for he recognises the reality of pain

He

does not say: "You have no pain," but "You will be better." This calls forth no antagonistic suggestion in the unconscious mind of second important the patient. thing is his method of repetition. Repetition in psychology is a very

useful factor, especially in the learn-

ing process.

More and more,

its

espe-

cially in recent research,

useful-

ness has been appreciated.

extensively in the business

It is used world, and

advertising has built a scientific law

about

it.

How

often are

we
is

led by
in just

the constant repetition of an advertiser to try his

product!

It

the

same way that one may cause the

subconscious to adopt an idea.

[S3]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

very simple method, so simple that, paradoxical as it may sound, it is very difficult. One is always prone
to slide over the easy

and obvious,
those
simple,

and Very often

just

obvious things are the very fundamentals of life. Nature seems to

have derived her greatest joy in working silently and unobserved. Who has ever heard the seedling
germinate or the sap flow? Who has ever taken stock of the workings of thought in the human mind, as it
silently,

quietly

thinks

the a

dreams
universe.

that

may

revolutionize
is

and
it is

Thinking

such a
is

common

process,

yet there

existence

who
It

hardly a man in can adequately say how

is

done.

such a simple, such a

natural thing.
scious,

In his dealing with the subconCoue's method is strictly psyit is

chological, for
a

the application of

sound principle of psychology.

He

forth a state of mind among his patients that succeeds in having them
calls
[54]

MY PILGRIMAGE
lose all fear of disease.

TO COUE
He
inspires

them with method is not

His have his patients get well merely by having them determine to do so, but by causing them to
self-confidence.
to
feel

confident

that

their

curative

powers are functioning in the best possible manner. Once he succeeds

in getting this idea into the

subcon-

scious
is

mind of

his patient, the cure

effected.

[55]

CHAPTER
A
To
to
see

XII

Seance With Coue

M. Coue
his

enter

room

crowded with
tell

patients, each anxious

distressing

symptoms,

many

revealing by their obvious de-

formities or useless
their needs are,
is

members what

to feel at once his

personal power and his reservoir of

hope

and enthusiasm.

The

daily

repetition of his great task of hear-

ing troubles and patiently explaining

them away, which would soon wear

out a person of ordinary vitality, has

no terrors for him.

off

He

throws

off

weariness as lightly as the

the sod

plow turns from the furrow. He dis-

plays some of the energy of radium,

which constantly gives off its emanations of power without any measurOnce, able diminution of strength. in response to a patient who com[56]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
M. Coue
Well,
it

plained of fatigue, retorted

:

quickly-

"Feel

tired?

so
tires

do

I.

There are days when

receive people,
just the same,

me

to

but

receive

them

and

all

day long.

Do

not say I cannot help it. One can always overcome oneself." As soon as M. Coue arrives, he greets the group. No sign of ennui is displayed on his face as he takes in this distressing sight which has come to him daily for twenty years. The unceasing stream of the miserable does not even momentarily stagger him. His enthusiasm is limitless. Almost arrived at the normal end of life, he continues to restore the life

and wasted energies of others. As he takes up the day's work,

his

manner is He makes

brisk,

cheerful,

radiant.

the round of the room,

speaking to each one, listening to each one. No story of suffering casts

him down.
of each
is

His

attitude in the face

serene, even confident

[57]

and

MY PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
jolly.

There

is

always a twinkling

smile ready to be evoked. He jokes with the patients. He banters them.

He

refuses to take disease seriously

or lugubriously.
their complaints.

He lightly ridicules He will not hear

of symptoms.

"Oh, Madame, not so many debeg you !" he protests laughingly. "By looking for details you create them, and you would want a list a yard long to contain all your
tails, I

maladies.

As

a matter of fact,

it is

the mental outlook which is wrong. Well, make up your mind it is going to be better and it will be so. It's as simple as the Gospel." Always, whenever he finds someone in acute pain he dispels it in his usual way by having the patient sit quietly, relaxed, perhaps touching the painful area, and repeating rapidly after him:

"Ca

passe, ga passe, qa

passe, ga passe

"
at

As

first

seen thus
to

Coue seems almost

[58]

work, M. have a com-

MY
mand
says
says,
it

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
over pain and disease.
will pass,

and

it

passes.

He He

"You
in

will be better,"

and you

are better.

Once he

left his quiet

home
to

Nancy

to journey to Paris

a rare excursion for one so devoted

the unfortunates

who

seek

him

out.

The crowds
skeptical,

flocked to him,

some ready to believe sick and lame dogged his heels. Nearly all were relieved; many were instantly cured. He went to London to deliver a lecture, and set all England by the ears with his
some
anything.

The

remarkable demonstrations of drugless healing. And everything he accomplishes quietly, naturally, with almost childlike simplicity. One day, during a seance, there

was

little stir

near the door.

the
hall

We

and saw plainly that a man was being brought in by some persons in a hand-basket. He was very ill with asthma. They brought him into the room and M. were seated
in

Coue

said:
[59]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
did you not

"Why
steps?"

come up

the

leading to

There are three or four M. Coue's home.

steps

The man panted:

M. Coue
said:

"I could not." then took his hand and

"Walk down

When
M. Coue

the steps with me." they reached the pavement

said again:
I

"Now

want you to go up the

steps alone."

"But I cannot do it," replied the man. M. Coue again assured him that he could do it and had him repeat many, many times, "I can go up those steps; I can go up those steps." In less than five minutes he walked up the steps, showed some exertion when he entered the hall, and rested awhile. M. Coue had him repeat it. Thereupon the man walked down the steps, coming up again with far less exertion. Always before each new trial, he said: "I can go up and down
[60]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

these steps easily." This action he repeated three times during the afternoon, with intervals of rest. The next time he came to the clinic he was walking altogether without support, and was showing no
signs

of difficulty in breathing.

saw him on several occasions after that, and he told me that he had no
difficulty
efforts.

whatever

after

the

first

T6i]

CHAPTER
In

XIII

Coue and Divine Healing

his various clinics M. Coue has conquered cases of paralysis, tuberculosis, asthma, anaemia, stuttering, enteritis, gout, dyspepsia, eczema

and neurasthenia
tations.

in all its

manifes-

The

crippled have thrown

away
the

their crutches

and walked for

first

time, sometimes after a sin-

gle treatment.

So amazing are some

of his results, so great is the joy instantly felt by those relieved, and by

them

infectiously

communicated

to

astonished witnesses, that it is not surprising that M. Coue himself is hailed as the healer, the source of power that accomplishes these cures. Christian Scientists, when they
achieve similar results, assert that
is
it

divine healing.

Those

in

charge

of Catholic shrines such as Lourdes and Ste. Anne de Beaupre say that it
[62!

MY
is

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi
through the intercesin

God working

sion of particular saints

localities

special

that produces the marvel-

Hindoo healers have ous results. claimed magical or religious powers

to cure,
in

similar

fashion.

Even
is

the proof of Christ's

own

divinity

sometimes asserted on the strength of the miracles of healing which He performed. The popular mind is thoroughly prepared to believe that divine power can produce particular cures, that the Deity does sometimes take note of, and miraculously heal individuals, and that the possession, therefore, by
a human being, of power to effect cures in an unexplained fashion withhis

out material aid is in itself proof of possessing some superhuman,

spiritual force.

On

this

account,

most

people,

when convinced that M. method does cure, assume

has some special power
in

Coue's
that he himself.

Many

hail

him

as a divine agent,
L63]

and

MY
it is

PILGRIMAGE TO COTJE

as

easy to believe him a person such might be selected for the exercise
forces.

of peculiar

His venerable

sprightliness, his sinister joy in doing

good, his gleeful, chuckling attitude in the face of the most discouraging maladies, cause him to appear a little affected by some kind of madness. Why should he, an old man, have been doing this sort of thing for twenty years without losing his excited enthusiasm in it? Why should he be so removed from the ordinary motives of ordinary human beings?

"Perhaps

it is

profitable to

him?"

the skeptic might ask.

But not

at

all.

He

takes no fees.

He

not only demands no money, but even refuses to accept any. He lives simply and takes no pleasures beyond early morning labors in the garden, and his long hours of work with his patients. His time is taken up to the extent of fifteen to sixteen hours a day. "I have never seen Coue refuse to give a treatment at however
[6 4 ]

MY
He

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
the hour the subject
it,"

awkward

may

have asked for

says one admirer.

has subscribed his private means, opened his own house, and devoted every waking minute of his time to

miraculous healing of the sick. to him, and he gives of himself, taking nothing in return. He is thus absolutely exposed as a man of pure heart. He is caught whitehanded with innocence. He is convicted, by his own actions, of being a bit touched with divinity!
this

They come

No

wonder that

a severe critic, a

Polytechnician,

exclaims,

"He

is

power!" or that a lady asks, aftei seeing his cures, "Do you think there
are beings

who One woman,

of

radiate influence?"
excited

by the disap-

pearance

her suffering, cried: Coue, "Oh, M. one could kneel to You are the merciful God!" you. And another corrected her, saying: "No, His messenger." M. Coue himself attributes nothing divine or superhuman to his mar[65]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

velous cures.

There is no mistake about his answer to that question "It is not the person who acts,"
is

says Coue; "it

the method.
fluid.

"I have no magnetic "I have no influence.

"I have never cured anybody.

"My

disciples obtain the

same

re-

sults as myself.

"Things which seem miraculous to you have a perfectly natural cause; if they seem extraordinary it is only
because the cause escapes you.

When

you know

that,

you realize that nothnatural."

ing could be

more

power, but autosuggestion conveyed by the subject himself, to himself, is Coue's own explanation for his cures. Autosuggestion he defines as a sort of self-hypnotism, "the influence of the imagination upon the moral and physical being."

Not

his personal

"If you persuade yourself that you can do a certain thing, provided
[66]

MY PILGRIMAGE
however
difficult it

TO COUfi
do
it,

that thing be possible, you will

may

be."

To
I
tell

one patient Coue said: "When you that you are better, you
at once,

do

feel better

don't you?
in

Why?

Because you have faith

me.
will

Just believe in yourself obtain the same result."

and you

In his lectures
plains
sesses

Coue always

ex-

to his patients

that he pos-

no healing powers; that they

in

carry

themselves

the
is

source

of

their well-being.

He

merely an

agent to

instil

ideas of health into

their minds.

"Autosuggestion is an instrument which you have to learn how to use, just as you would any other instrument. An excellent gun in inexperienced hands only gives wretched
results,

but

the

more

skilled

the

hands become the more easily they

place the bullets in the target.

"When
tain

certain people

do not obauto-

satisfactory results with

it

suggestion,

is

either because they

[67]

MY
case.
is

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi
which
is

lack confidence, or because they

efforts,

the

make more frequent

suggestions
it

To make good

absolutely necessary to do so without effort. Conscious autosuggestion,

made with

confidence, with faith, with perseverance, realizes itself mathematically, within reason." Coue, then, lays no claim to personal power, or even religious aid in effecting cures. Indeed, as we have seen, he ascribes to autosuggestion

the cures for which religious sanction

is

asserted.

"The means employed by

ers all

the heal-

go back to autosuggestion,"

he says. "That is to say, that these methods, whatever they are words,

incantations,

gestures,

staging

all

produce

in

the patient the autosug-

gestion of recovery."

This self-depreciation, while disappointing the enthusiasts and disarming the carpers, is well justified by
the history of autosuggestion.

Too
suc-

many people before Coue have

[68]

MY PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
ceeded by approximately the same methods for any one person to be
able
to

assert

his

possession

of

strange, occult powers. Indeed,

Coue

had, in his

own town

of Nancy, a

prototype

in nearly

every particular.

I69I

CHAPTER XIV
Coue's Predecessors in Autosuggestion

The modern

theory of psychother-

apy owes its real birth to a little French country doctor, A. A. Liebault, who opened a public dispensary in Nancy as long ago as 1860, announcing that he would treat, free
of charge, all who would submit to be hypnotized. Although ignored and scouted by his medical brethren, for at that period hypnotism, still being more or less an occult science, was looked upon apprehensively, for twenty-five years he treated the poorer classes practically without

charge.

patients

numbered

about 15,000. Liebault's public spirit was quite as high as that of Coue, and his method was not dissimilar, for Coue himself began with hypnotism, and only as time went on
[70]

MY
found

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
it

possible to induce autosugalso other practition-

gestion without producing sleep.

There were

Nancy, Bernheim, Liegeois (professor of Jurisprudence) and Beaunis (profesThey all pubsor of Physiology). The lished books on the subject. investigation has Nancy school of been followed in France by such men as A. Voisin, Barillon, Dejerine, Luys, Cullere, Nizet, Laloy, Regnoult and others, besides many more
ers of drugless healing at

other countries. the present day Coue does not stand quite alone in his practice. His especially Mile. Kauffassistants, mant, and those in charge of the inin

At

stitute for the Practice of

gestion

in

London,

Autosugand above all

Coue's friend and fellow investigator, Professor Charles Baudouin, of perform similar all Switzerland, works of restoration. Indeed, they I all meet with excellent results. myself was cured of a minor trouble
[71]

MY
We

PILGRIMAGE TO COUfi
efforts of a young Engworking with Coue.

through the
lish girl

should not too lightly dispose of Coue, however. In spite of his

own modest disclaimers, in spite of a multitude of predecessors, associates

and
only
disciples, the little, stoop-shoul-

dered chemist of Nancy remains not

the

sensation
the

of

to-day,

but,

with

justice,

leader

and

the
auto-

greatest
ality

name connected with

He, through his personand astonishing cures, through his disinterested love of doing good for its own sake, has done much to popularize and gain adherents to his
suggestion.

method of autosuggestion. He has succeeded in making of it not a confined, insular scientific discovery,

but
a

a universally applicable law.

His

faith

rests

securely

upon

great truth and a great service. truth, which he was the first to
plain,

The make

was precisely the disclosure method was free for all to practice, if they were sufficiently inthat this

to]

MY PILGRIMAGE
terested.
skill in

TO COUE

His service lay in his great so simplifying the principles

of autosuggestion that everybody in the world can understand them.

Other suggestionists knowingly or unconsciously have lent themselves to the illusion that they possessed special powers, or were dealing with a
technique that only the initiate ought
to be allowed to practice.
their

They kept
mysto see

methods

terious,

an

cryptic,

vague,

exclusive

possession.

They would not allow any one

the wheels
as simple

go 'round.

other hand, has

bility as the air

made
we

Coue, on the autosuggestion

in its availa-

and universal
reveals, after

breathe.
all,

What
a

genius

it

to take a

few simple instruments, such as

string of twenty knots, a doggerel of

twelve words, and two or three easy

affirmations,

and

to

create

out

of

them

a system of drugless medicine

that has the world at respectful atIf Coue's cures are not magical, his personal methods are. tention
!

[73]

MY PILGRIMAGE TO
The hardest
there isn't
in

COUfi

thing for most people

to understand about

Coueism

is

that

more of

it.

The

sole tenet

the system is the deliberately adopted belief that, whatever ails The you, you are getting better. sole means of forming that belief is to put the affirmation to work in your subconscious mind, with the expectation that the subconscious

mind

will

carry the belief

out

into

actuality

while you are occupied with other things. The sole means of putting
that belief to
the

work when

is

to din

it

into

mind by

tireless assertion at those

times of day
quiescent,

the will

is is

and when the fancy

most most

credulous.

[74]

CHAPTER XV
Other Applications for Autosuggestion
So far we have treated autosuggestion insofar as
it is

used

in particular
If,

conditions,

specific

infirmities.

however, one desires a general suggestion for well-being, in digestion,

other bodily functions and sleep,

Coue has a routine for that a statement which he himself recites before his patients at the end of a seance. He has them sit quietly, relaxed,
with their eyes closed, while he mutters over them a long suggestion about the healthy functioning of every part of the body and mind. The effect he secures is invariably an immediate lifting of the spirits of those who hear it. For particular maladies, as we

M.

have already

said,

M. Coue

gives

assent to the formulation of specific

[75]

MY PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
statements suggesting particular improvements, but he is somewhat skeptical about the relative value of such itemizing formulae. There is always
the possibility of focusing the

mind

on the symptom rather than on the improvement expected. Anxiety to

get well may take the place of the healing belief in a cure, and thus the
will
is fatally brought in, and the ills complained of become more acute and vivid than ever. The safer way

is

to forget just
feel

what troubles one,

comforted in the general belief engendered by the assertion that "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better."

and to

Thus M. Coue brings

to an

his

method
it,

end just where he began

in

sing-song of childlike simplicity, which he frankly acknowledges to be

a
his
his

whole system.
followers to

He

labors with

the truth that

sary.

make them nothing more is

accept
neces-

Anything further introduced into

[76]

MY
the

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

Coue system by himself or by

else is a variant of the formula, or merely an approach to the threshold of belief. There are, indeed, hurdles to be got over before the subconscious mind can accept the suggestion of daily growing better. In the minds of the skeptical, doubts

anyone

must be removed, suggestibility built up, hope enkindled, faith engendered, and a desire aroused sufficient to keep the subject repeating the formula long enough for it to start its work
in the subconscious.

As a means of awakening such hope and preparing the mind for belief,

the

course, of sovereign value.

Coue demonstrations are, of Nothing

succeeds

like
is

success.

visual

demonstration

worth

hours

of

argument and verbal proof.

M. Coue
in

receives his

Hence, patients always

groups, in order that the suggestible people who are

easily

more most

by

their

and quickly cured may infect example and convince by

[77l

MY
ment
uals

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
and astonishmore phlegmatic individwho scoff. Each day, along
the

their cries of delight

with the inquiring newcomers, finds old patients who are ready to testify and to reinforce their testimony with their hopeful attitudes that they have made, and are still making, improvements. Furthermore, the newcomer is always given the hand-clasping test of

which is usually effecenough to convince him. Fortunately, however, one does not have to begin with faith in the
suggestibility,
tive

method
lief

to sustain benefit.

The

sub-

conscious

mind often fashions

a be-

for itself out of the infection of

work on

demonstrations and goes to it while the conscious mind is still wrestling with difficulties, hunting for proofs and bothering about theories. I, myself, went over to Nancy with hope, but hardly with

such

belief.

Simple people, however, children,

[78]

MY PILGRIMAGE
marked
ly to

TO COUB

and the peasants, who flock in such numbers to the clinic, and persons of
religious tendencies are like-

be benefited at once.

They

arrive prepared to believe, the for-

mula works upon them, the demonstration convinces them, and they are
cured,

short order.

not immediately, then in The complete simplicity of the Coue method and its general
if

adaptability is by such umphantly demonstrated.

cases

tri-

The more sophisticated mind, however, cannot so easily be worked People of higher education upon. and wider experience demand that results seemingly so miraculous be brought into conformity with the general laws of science. They want
to see
to

how

it is

possible for the

mind

perform cures of maladies that have not yielded to medicine.

[79]

CHAPTER XVI
The Psychology
of

Autosuggestion

The practice of Coueism is selfcontained and sufficient in itself, but for those who need to go beyond, and care to follow his theory, Coue has explanations nearly as lucid and simple as the method. He has deeply investigated the nature of the subconscious or unconscious mind. There he has found certain psychological laws which seem to him to account
for his surprising results.

Nothing
al-

new

is

though
stated.

created several

by these laws,
things

are

freshly

The scientific merit of Coue's explanation lies in his bringing together known and demonstrable principles of psychology, and his rejection of every unsound theory. To begin with, he acknowledges his limitations. He does not attempt
[80]

MY
the

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

benefits,

When promising he always says, "providing "You are this thing be possible." capable of accomplishing perfectly on well whatever you wish to do,
impossible.
it is reasonable, and whatever it is your duty to do." "What you say persistently and very

condition that

quickly conies

to

domain

of

the

pass (within the of reasonable,

course)." Nevertheless, Coue is very sparing of mention of the diseases or conditions that he considers it reasonable to cure. He admits that autosuggestion cannot set broken bones, or replace severed fingers. He admits the possibility of transmitting infectious diseases. I have seen him tell a new patient, a woman, that she must first consult a physician for a morbid condition before he would consent to receive her into the group for his treatment. The best he could

hope to do for a former soldier with a mutilated face was to improve his
[81]

MY PILGRIMAGE

TO COUE

moral fortitude to enable him to escape the embarassment and depression caused by his unfortunate Another former solappearance. dier, shell-shocked, was considered a doubtful case. If his mind was too far gone to receive suggestions, of course, Coue admitted, autosugges-

The small tion could not cure him. percentage of insane, of people of arrested mental development or of
unsuggestible temperaments are also
ruled out as outside the range of his
ministrations.

For the

rest,

however, Coue

ac-

has seen improvements in so many apparently incurable maladies when they have been faced with confidence, that he confronts them all with the sovereign remedy, which is confidence. jaunty self-assurance in the presence of disease is his manner, because it
is

cepts no handicaps.

He

also his cure.

To

me you have

one patient he says "You tell attacks of nerves every

:

[82]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

week. Well, from to-day you are going to do what I tell you and you will cease to have them." To another: "And you, Monsieur, your varicose ulcer is already better."

To a third: "Ah, you have glaucoma, Madame. I cannot absolutely promise to cure you of that, for I am not sure that I can. That does not mean that you cannot be cured, for I have known it to happen in the case of a lady of Chalon-sur-Saone and another of Lorraine." Or again: "You say that you have suffered for forty years? It is none the less true that you can be cured to-morrow, on condition, naturally, of your doing
you to do, in the way I tell you to do it." Is such optimism then, unscientific? Does the note sound strained? Perhaps so, if one demand of Coue the reticence of a diagnostician making what he calls a prognosis. The
exactly
I tell

what

specialist,

in his desire
[83]

never to be

MY
pects

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

found to have overstated the prosof cure, usually makes so gloomy a forecast that he gives the
patient a case of melancholy that has to be dealt with before his original

In a scant trouble can be tackled. proportion of cases, Coue's happy predictions may prove to have been overdrawn; in all the rest they have
themselves, the means of bringing themselves to pass. All successful physicians nowadays recognize this fact, that an optimistic attitude toward a disease is the first essential for a cure. The most orthodox medical people are placing
been,

more and more

and
less

reliance

ural, self-corrective factors

upon and

natless

upon medicines.

Dr. Richard Cabot, for instance, "Layman's handbook on medicine," which deserves to be read alongside of Coue, says, "There is this consoling fact about disease,
in his

viz
if

that it usually gets well of itself, given half a chance. Many a vic:

[8 4 ]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUB
is so easily won that experience any illness at Traces of struggle are left in

tory over germs

we never
all.

the

tissues,

but the
to

patient
is

never
forci-

knows it. ble enough

ease,
diet,

When

the attack

make

us aware of dis-

way
tion.

we try to aid nature. By rest, nursing or surgery, we clear the for Nature's army of Restora-

cisive part.
laria,

"Occasionally we take a more deIn eight diseases ma-

chlorosis,

myxedema,
a

syphilis,

diphtheria, latent tetanus, sunstroke,

hookworm and
diseases
called cure.

really be In 270 (odd) other diseases as listed in text-books of medicine, nature, with some help from our hygiene, can usually do the work. It is only in cancer and a few other that maladies most of them rare nature does little or nothing for our

what we do may

few other tropical

restoration to health. "In most cases, then,

it

is

a win-

ning fight that

we
[8s]

enter

when we


MY
the

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
and
beneficent
inge-

contribute our tiny strength to aid

colossal

nuity of nature's sanitation.

What
de-

we do
it

is

vastly worthwhile because

tries

to imitate

and

in

some

supplement the ever-active Power not ourselves that makes for

gree
to

health."

This is the word of a great physon the staff of Harvard University, and formerly head of MassaGeneral Hospital that chusetts drugs can cure eight diseases, and
ician

out of 300 cases nature cures 272.

What Cabot
more
scious."

calls

"Nature" Coue
"the subcon-

specifically

calls

"Nature," so far as it is in us, of course, is our vital processes growth, decay, unconscious the

movement, elimination and chemical change, that goes on unceasingly, and

usually

without feeling,

in

our
It
is

in-

ternal organs

and

tissues.

not

we well know, and yet it is presided over and directed by a system of nerves that
exactly conscious, as
[86]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
It
is

have their ultimate origin and endings in the brain.

related to

consciousness,
fects

we

also

know, because

feel consciously afadversely or beneficially. The proof of the influence of conscious feeling upon the hidden undertow of nature, which is the unconscious, is borne in upon us in a thousand ways. Bad news of sickness unnerves us, quite as if we had taken something deleterious into our stomachs. mere thought reaches our vital organs and throws them out of kilter. Some people, if brought to the top of a high building grow dizzy and sicken at the mere sight. change of scene travel and excitement are often prescribed by physicians as a cure for nervous diseases and even functional derangements. If asked to toe a crack on the floor, any normal person can do so accurately, but only a practiced
it

what we do and

foot can safely walk a wide plank Fear disturbs over a deep chasm.
[87]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

all the functions of the body. Anger often poisons and sickens. The conscious attitude of confidence, hope and striving is necessary

to maintain health. a case of a business

fully

Who

knows of

"retiring"

in

man's successhis old age?

Either he finds other objects of endeavor connected with earlier experience, and so essentially keeps going, or else he rapidly goes to pieces and
early falls a victim to disease and

death.

A
sick

man who
day

has never

known

in his life occasionally dis-

when past middle age, that he has some incurable malady, enlarged heart, cancer, or Bright's discovers,
ease.

The

disclosure

is

usually fatal

before the disease can work itself out. person who has often been at death's door and rallied can stand bad news about himself more stoically, because in the recesses of his mind is the recollection of having fooled the doctors before.

[88]

CHAPTER
The
to us,

XVII

The Force of the Subconscious

subconscious, that

unbeknown

works for our help or hurt is undeniably a tremendous force, though it is not yet sufficiently understood. However, it has been demonstrated that it often works in conjunction with the conscious mind, ac-

cepting suggestions that were first presented to the latter. It is the great storehouse of memory whence come those sudden flashes of recollection of some inconsidered incident of childhood. It is the great amphitheatre of feeling and reasoning,

whence come our sudden passions, our unhidden desires or decisions to do certain things. Ideas come forth from the unconscious mind greatly
elaborated, enveloped with new feelconstructed into formidable ings, systems out of the minute daily offer[89]

MY PILGRIMAGE
ings of conscious
as

TO COUE
Just of

experience.

the painfully slow accretions

the bodies of coral polyps under the

sea ultimately build up an island such

Bermudas, so the little acts and suggestions of health or sickness accumulate under the surface of our
as the

consciousness

until

they

finally
atti-

emerge
It
is

as

an

all-determining

tude, desire, or state of health.

Coue's discovery that whatis presented to the unconscious with an attitude of belief is accepted as reality and gradually
ever idea
realizes
itself

in

the unconscious.

Hence

his constant mission of favor-

able suggestions to the unconscious. In his view, it is idle to try to uproot ideas in the unconscious. When-

the will and the imagination (the belief to which we give consent) come into conflict, the imagina-

ever

tion invariably wins the day. For the imagination is simply that which,

for us,

is

reality.

The
[90]

will

what we

feel

or

desire

is simply about it,

MY
The

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE
it.

which cannot, of course, remove

only way to replace our subconscious sense of reality is to implant new belief by the process of autosuggestion. Thus he comes back to the simple reiteration of "I am getting better and better" to build up new islands of consciousness under the surface of our knowing. The
simplicity of the
fore,
is

Coue system, therenot alone justified by its results, but profoundly guaranteed by the logic of science.

[91]

MY

PILGRIMAGE TO COUE

CREDO
I believe in the

earnestness of purin his

pose of Emile Coue,

to

devotion
in his

and

sincerity in his

work;

kindness to all patients, whether they are in the highest or more humble paths of life; in his affirmations of recovery to all, when he believes a cure is possible; in his statement that he has limitations and that many cures cannot be effected by him; in his assertion that dread and fear are the great hindrances to health; in the spiritual thought that
patients receive from him, renewing their interest in life and their courage to go on under the most adhis

great

verse conditions
all his

in fact, I believe in
all

methods,
sickness,

his attitude todistress.

ward
I

sorrow or
in
all

he approaches very near to the Great Comforter, for he certainly lives up

this

believe

that

to all

His precepts. He epitomizes word and deed of the command "freely ye have received,
every

freely give."
[92]

Date Due

Demeo

293-5

3 9002 08775 772